PH Went down with Kent KALK

Webmanny

Webmanny

Active member
This is really weird.

I have been considering using Kalk in my dosser because I really don't want to mess with my ATO and all the residue that Kalk leaves behind. So, I mixed 1 tsp with a gallon of RODI and started doing a constant dosing of 1ml per hour all day long.

My logic is that doing it this way, it will still use the ATO, but much less and I can adjust the dosing amount as I see fit.

Regardless of the method, the side effect I noticed is that my PH went down yesterday. Please note that nothing else has changed and all parameters are in check. I paid special attention to not change anything else to ensure that I could see the effects of only starting the Kalk and nothing more.

This is the Chart of my PH probe for the past week or so. My PH swings from 8.05 at night to 8.19 during the day, but for some reason, yesterday it only climbed to 8.06 on the high side and so far it has gone down to 8.01 as of right now.

Anyone else has experienced this before with Kalk?

PH.jpg
 

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Nope. Months ago I installed an airline from the skimmer to the outside of the house with a carbon filter. I really don't think this is the issue.
 
I get where you are going, but I find it very hard to believe that the PH probe got messed up yesterday when I started Kalk. Regardless, the last time this probe was calibrated was when I changed the probe holder for a magnetic one I made 3 months ago.
 
Webmanny said:
I get where you are going, but I find it very hard to believe that the PH probe got messed up yesterday when I started Kalk. Regardless, the last time this probe was calibrated was when I changed the probe holder for a magnetic one I made 3 months ago.
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Yeah, this is really odd... If anything, you should have seen your pH increase after starting the kalk dosing. Very strange indeed...

Maybe there is a snail on the probe sensor???
 
This most likely is the result of something else. How long have you been dosing? 24 ml is not even 2 tablespoons, your pH will not be affected either way by dosing such a small amount.
 
When feeding air to a skimmer from outside - a more humid / rainy / less sunny day affects the pH. Why? I dont know. Something to do with an increase in CO2 concentrations on Humid / rainy / less sunny days in the outside air.
 
Ted_C said:
When feeding air to a skimmer from outside - a more humid / rainy / less sunny day affects the pH. Why? I dont know. Something to do with an increase in CO2 concentrations on Humid / rainy / less sunny days in the outside air.
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This one I did not know and it may be the answer. I will give this a few days to see where it goes. Hopefully, this is just the humid air and nothing to do with me starting to dose Kalk. What a weird coincidence.

Thank you all for looking and helping out. I will keep you posted on the next few days of results.
 
It happened to me last week (or the week before when the last cold front came through) when we got all that rain. What was it - Tuesday? I opened the the day before the rain - we got the rain - my pH didn't go as high as the previous day. The next day - the pH got to the same value as the day before the rain.

I saw this guy's thread too: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2578142

Like I said though - I have no explanation why this would be. Humidity should have no effect on air going into a skimmer (but it appears it does). Air should still have 0.0040% CO2. Even if rain were acidic (as rain tends to be) - your not injecting that water in the air into your skimmer. The thing about air too - it's all singular molecules bouncing around - not an aqueous solution. N2, O2, H2O, CO2, Ar, H2, He. There's nothing I know about where a carbonic acid can be aerosolized or attached to the water molecule.
 
Ted_C said:
Like I said though - I have no explanation why this would be. Humidity should have no effect on air going into a skimmer (but it appears it does). Air should still have 0.0040% CO2. Even if rain were acidic (as rain tends to be) - your not injecting that water in the air into your skimmer. The thing about air too - it's all singular molecules bouncing around - not an aqueous solution. N2, O2, H2O, CO2, Ar, H2, He. There's nothing I know about where a carbonic acid can be aerosolized or attached to the water molecule.
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Uhhhh. OK dude. you left me like this, but I think I understand.
h-CONFUSED-BABY-432x243.jpg
 
Crazy stuff... Although, shouldn't have everyone's pH in the TB area dropped yesterday if this holds true? I didn't notice a drop, but I don't run my skimmer line outside.

Great thread!
 
Yes - but it has to be fed raw from outside. I dont suspect Rodger's pH changed either - as he runs in a dehumidified room that's sort of outside (Garage).

Edit: it's not really a drop in pH - its less of a peak. I know that sounds weird - but it's all due to the CO2 / Carbonic acid equilibirium.
 
Update. First, let me apologize for the confusion. As many of you said, this had nothing to do with Kalk. Well, at least not directly.

A short story...

I got home today and the tank was white, as in almost milk for water. I immediately knew that this was a bacteria bloom, but why?

It turns out that in the process of connecting the 3 sections dosing container for vodka and Kalk I inverted the hoses. Therefore, I was dosing 1ml of vodka EVERY HOUR, ALL DAY LONG and Kalk only once a day.

So as you can see, a simple mix-up on my part caused this whole thing. I have done a 30% water change, replaced filter sock, took biopellet reactor offline and replaced carbon.

I have a bunch of the bacteria slime everywhere and will need to dip all pumps and skimmer in vinegar tomorrow to get the stuff cleaned.

I hope everything makes it and that I don't keep making stupid mistakes like this one.

Thank you all for your help and for attempting to solve this issue for me.
 
Not to get off topic but I was about to run my skimmer line outside. And was curious as to y u put a carbon filter on it? What is the purpose?
 
jaylensdad06 said:
Not to get off topic but I was about to run my skimmer line outside. And was curious as to y u put a carbon filter on it? What is the purpose?
Click to expand...

This is just a precaution in case the city or county government does their drive by fumigation. You don't want your skimmer pulling that junk into the tank and mixing it into the water column.

There are some very simple ways of doing that. A friend of ours here Oblio, runs the line into the attic and past a container with carbon and filter floss. In my case, I found a used RODI resin canister, enlarged the holes, put some connectors, filled it with carbon and placed it inline.

I don't really have a way of confirming that it does what it should, but there are enough people here that use it and it gives me a bit of peace of mind.

Good luck.
 
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